Quantcast Spaceport Gets Mixed Reception in Truth or Consequences

The $225-million project brings the promise and the threat of change to the quiet New Mexico town. Some say the problem is local politics, not the idea of hosting space travelers.

Reporting from Truth Or Consequences, N.M. – When residents of this isolated place voted in 2008 to tax themselves to pay for an audacious redevelopment scheme — construction of a commercial spaceport in the desert — Kim Audette was an ardent supporter.

She expressed her backing in a typically quirky Truth or Consequences manner — sprinkling herself with “space dust” and playing pro-spaceport songs on her pink violin in a local park.

That was then. Now Audette’s performances include ditties denouncing local officials who support the project.

As workers pave a 2-mile-long runway at a facility due to open in 2011, the $225-million Spaceport America project has hit its first earthbound speed bump. Trucks hauling gravel rumbled through Truth or Consequences’ tiny downtown this fall, upsetting some businesses and residents who complained about congestion and pollution.